


like a diamond in the sky

by Poltergeistreport



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Domestic Fluff, Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), M/M, Married Keith/Lance (Voltron), Slice of Life, allura and coran are mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21841345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poltergeistreport/pseuds/Poltergeistreport
Summary: Parenting is hard. And all Lance wants is for his son to sleep through the night.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 193





	like a diamond in the sky

**Author's Note:**

> For the Lance Positivity Week prompt: Stargazing.

When his son started to cry at three in the morning for the fifth night in a row, Lance felt like crying with him. He laid there in bed for a bit just listening to Alex sniffle and whine through the baby monitor before he rolled himself out of bed and made the trek down the hall to see what the little gremlin needed.

How the hell did his parents do this for over 30 years? And with five kids nonetheless? Was this divine justice at play for being the youngest, cutest and loudest one of them all?

He was so,  _ so _ tired. And so lonely since Keith was away on a recon mission for the Blades in the Xiran star system. Gone for three Earth weeks away from home because, unlike the generous paternal leave the Garrison gives their faculty members, the Blades haven’t gotten around to instituting a healthy employee work life balance yet.

Keith had been gutted about leaving the two of them behind. But as the space prince (“I’m the Head of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation,  _ Lance.  _ There’s nothing royal about that.”) of the newly minted Galran Republic and the Blade of Mamora’s chief of staff, he was apparently super duper critical for this particular mission.

Lance had assured him that he and Alex would be fine. Their family and friends were a quick phone call away, their pediatrician was on speed dial in case Alex had another allergy attack, and “I got this, babe. You’ve been hogging him since we bought him home. It’s my turn to spoil and bond with our little chicken nugget.”

Keith had to concede the point, though he wrinkled his nose at the nickname. 

He had been a tad clingy towards their son since the moment he laid eyes on Alex in the maternity ward. 

It was Keith who took to reading all the “Parenting for Dummies” books Lance’s older brother had bought for them. Read them like he was going to be tested on them later. It was Keith who put the baby down for naps, burped Alex after every meal, plied him with toys and music to entertain him and sang to him at bath time so Alex won’t fuss as Lance lather his tiny baby head with soap and water. 

But most importantly, it was Keith who stirred and roused at very odd hours of the night to tend to Alex when he cried: kissing Lance as he woke, and leaving with a quiet and tired “I got it”. 

The Blade of Mamora mission was an all exclusive paid vacation compared to being first time parents.

Lance just wish he’ll come home soon. 

He stepped into the spare room that they turned into a nursery and surveyed the area quickly: Window was shut, the door was closed, no forced entry in or out of the room, and none of the items on the dresser placed under the windowsill or the rug had been disturbed. 

Some habits are hard to break after the war. But nothing seemed amiss here except for whatever was making Alex cry this time. Lance moved over to the crib and lean over it to scooped the baby up into his arms. Alex stilled for two seconds, surprised at the sudden motion. And then, when whatever was bothering him didn’t rectify itself, continued to wail.

Lance dipped down mentally and gathered his apparently bottomless well of patience, before as cheerfully as he could muster went, “Hey, what’s wrong buddy? That’s not a ‘Papi, feed me!’ cry.” 

He lifted Alex up and sniffed a bit. “You’re not stinky either. Something rumbly in the tummy?”

Alex offered up a weak burp when Lance patted him but it didn’t stop the crying.

Neither did pacing and singing lullabies. 

Or any of the other tips and tricks that Keith had once upon a time obsessively read outloud from their parenting guides and they had both committed to memory and to practice. 

By the end of the hour, Lance had exhausted his options and also was just plain exhausted. Still, the boy would not stop crying.

“Alex please.” 

More burping attempts. More pacing. More lullabies. More- 

He did not stop, though it had dialed down from practically inconsolable to small little whimpers and tears. It still broke Lance’s heart to hear, but was certainly an improvement from early on. 

Lance was going to give in as the clocked ticked over to four thirty in the morning. He was considering going back to his room for his phone and calling his mother for help. Or the doctor. Or-

Or maybe it was just him? Keith was the one who kept Alex company all those other nights. Maybe Alex just didn’t want Lance here comforting him cause it wasn’t his place.

_ Stop it. That’s just you being tired and being mean to yourself. _ Lance thought.  _ He’s still a baby and babies cry. it has nothing to do with you. _

Though it seemed easier for Keith who usually gets back into bed within fifteen minutes of checking up on him. 

On his hundredth pass across the room pacing and patting his son’s back, Lance saw **_it_** on the bookshelf. Nestled against a photo frame and a stack books a little above his eye level was the mobile projector that Allura and Coran gifted them when they first bought Alex home. 

The population boom on New Altea made the planet a lucrative market for strange and otherworldly baby products. The thing brings up a different star system whenever a set of coordinates are keyed into its holographic keypad. Much like the one built into the Castle of Lions and Allura had promised it worked just as well if not better than the Castle’s. It’s supposed to entertain and set the mood for bedtime.

“And, thanks to the special space science magic sound waves thingys that it emitted,” the instruction manual had promised, “the Altean Dreambeam Goodnight Sleep Machine(™) will calm the minds of newborns, infants, and spawns of over five hundred humanoid species and ease them into peaceful scheduled REM sleep.”

It also predicts volcanic activities on ice planets, but neither Coran nor Allura would elaborate on why that was a feature.

He’s not sure why it was up there that high on the shelf but balancing Alex carefully, he reached up and bought the toy down. 

He then turned it on and with an upward flick of his wrist, Lance called up the keyboard. He programmed the coordinates for their home solar system into the menu before setting the holoprojector down on the side table. 

He carried Alex over to the rocking chair they set up in the corner of the room and plopped down into it with a sigh. Around them in the small span of the nursery, space spun into existence. Stars blinked and appeared and twinkled from wall to wall to ceiling to floor. And in the center of the room nine transparent planets spun at their leisure around a white sun. 

The indicator light on the projector flashed two red lights in quick succession and then held steady on blue. 

Something gave in his own mind and Lance found himself also feeling calmer and more relaxed. He settled into the rocking chair and for the first time didn’t feel like he should be tearing his hair out in a frenzy.

Alex blinked up at him, face wet but no longer crying; the Altean sound waves were doing their magic on him.

“There now.” Lance cooed down at the adorably wrinkly face, “Is that what you wanted? To see the stars? Is that how Daddy got you to sleep so quickly all those nights ago, hmm?”

The baby seemed fascinated with the bright floating lights and as one drifted close, Alex reached a hand out from his blanket fold and tried to grasp it. The image phased through his palm and continued its cycle along its orbital path.

“Bweh” Alex gurbled. Lance huffed a tired laugh and tuck his tiny hand back into the blanket and held him closer in the crook of his arm.

“That’s right baby. ‘Star’. That’s a star from our home.” 

Lance located a familiar cluster of stars high above them and pointed a finger to trace their shape. “That’s the north star. It makes up part of the Big Dipper like this. And here,” his finger trailed underneath the first cluster. “This is the Little Dipper. ”

Lance traced and pointed out the constellations he could recognize and recall the stories of and taught to his own students back at the Garrison. He drew out the stars that made up Leo, then Gemini.

“And finally here’s Daddy’s sign: Scorpio. Which,” Lance mocked a horrified whispered, “explains soooo much.” 

Lance had a thought and he swiped his hand quickly upward through the air, pulling up the holographic keypad to type in another set of coordinates. He had memorized these, just like he does for every mission Keith goes on with the Blades. 

Just in case. 

An unfamiliar star system spun to life around the room. Three dwarf planets and two giant ones made their orbital trek around their red sun. “This is where Daddy is right now. Helping people, saving things.” 

Lance eyed the second planet in the line longingly. 

“You miss him, don’t you?” Dropping a kiss on Alex’s tiny mop of hair, Lance breathed in the scent of formula and the smell of the no-tears shampoo he had used earlier. It was a comforting smell, and Alex was a comforting weight in his arms. “Me too, bud. I’m sorry he had to go. But he’ll come home soon. And when he does, he’ll probably never leave you out of his sight again.”

Lance traced a line from their seat to a star to another and another and then to the small second planet. “And he’ll tell you stories about how these stars were born. And what the people in Xiran called them. But we’ll have some stuff of our own to tell him when he gets back, won’t we?”

Alex yawned and his eyes finally started to flutter close. Lulled to sleep by space and the sound of his father’s soft voice making up constellations and stories for him.

\-----

It was sometime later, when Lance became aware that he and Alex weren’t alone in the room. He must have drifted off into sleep himself cause when he came to his senses, he noticed they were still sitting in the rocking chair, light was creeping through the window and that someone had snuck in and was trying to take Alex from him.

Lance jumped to his feet, deftly pulling Alex back into his hold, ready to start swinging. An intruder! Home invader?? Whoever it was going to be fucked up for trying to babynap his son from him in his own home.

The sleep cleared from his eyes only for him to see a sight for sore tired eyes kneeling in front of him, palms up in a ‘woah, calm down’ gesture. The brief shot of adrenaline that coursed through his entire person left just as quickly, replaced with a much more familiar racing of his heart.

“Hey,” Keith whispered and rose from the floor, “Sorry, uh, sorry to wake you. Just wanted to get him back in the crib.” He was still in his Blade uniform sans the boots and his hair was coming out of its plait. When he took Alex from Lance his arms and held their son gently in his own, it made for such a strange image, Lance had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

“You’re home.” Lance rose from the chair and followed his husband to the crib, where Keith laid their son down. “But you weren’t supposed to be back until next Sunday.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t as difficult as they thought it would be.” Keith trailed a finger gently down the bridge of Alex nose and he smiled softly when the boy wrinkled his nose but didn’t wake. “I grabbed the fastest teleduv and headed back as soon as they finished signing the agreement.”

He turned and pull Lance in close for a soft kiss. Lance kissed back, hands reaching up to cradle Keith’s face in them. He’s aware of how much of a mess he looked right now. Bags under his eyes, three days worth of stubble on his face, and he can’t recall when he last wore something that wasn’t his blue robe. But Keith missed him enough to not care or call attention to it.

What a sap.

Lance was the one who broke their kiss to yawn. “Sorry. Couldn’t sleep for days.”

“Yeah,” Keith thumbed gently at one of the bruising under Lance’s eye, “I can tell.” 

Keith’s eyes looked around the room, recognition coloring his face as he took in the stars and transparent celestial bodies that still painted the room. His gaze steady on the planets that made up the center. “Missed me that much did you?”

“Ughhh. So much.” Lance slumped into Keith’s chest, chin on the other man’s shoulders, and holding him close. “Don’t leave me again. Ever.”

Keith returned his hug and kissed Lance’s temple. “Was that a threat?”

“It’s whatever you make it out to be, sweetheart. But yes, it’s a threat. A loving threat. And also a promise.”

“Dork. You’re so weird.” even as he insults him, the smile Lance can feel Keith giving him is worth a thousand stars in the sky, ”And you’re definitely tired. Come on,” he gently pull Lance up and turned him around by the shoulder, guiding the two of them out of nursery and down to their bedroom. “Let’s get you to bed.”

As they closed the nursery door, behind them the stars twinkled on in the weak morning light.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.


End file.
